Should I de-worm now?

[Chicken Lass]

Hi, I wormed my chickens last year with Wazine 17, and now they have worms again. I adopted a stray hen not too long ago, and I suspect she brought more worms to the others, since I found her ranging about in the wild. I recently treated my chickens with a Seven dust for mites. The mites are gone, but would it be harmful to now worm them since I just dusted them? I would wait to worm them until fall, since I hate throwing eggs out, but I found at least five dead worms in someone's poo the other day, plus one of my young hens has recently been looking unthrifty, and hasn't laid eggs in forever. I assumed she was just moulting early, which she could be, but after seeing the worms, now I wonder if that could be it. She had stopped laying long before I brought home the new hen though. The new hen looks about the same as when I found her - seems a little thin, although she is a smallish hen so it's hard to tell. All the chickens are acting normal and healthy, so my question is, would it be risky to wait until fall to worm, so I wouldn't have to toss the eggs? Of course I'd keep a close eye on them in any case. It might be that somehow the mite dust got in their system and that's what killed those worms I saw, but not sure. So is it a bad idea to worm so close to dusting? Thanks!

 

[lynn1961]

Worm them now, if not the worm infestation will only get worse, if you have dogs you could feed the eggs to them, or scramle the eggs and feed them back to the chickens for protein, moulting time is coming up and they could use the extra protein

 

[Chicken Lass]

Thanks, I'll worm them first thing in the morning. I guess I'll feed them back their eggs the first couple of weeks, and then feed their eggs to the dogs during the 2nd round. I'd read somewhere that feeding the eggs back to the chickens will just keep the wormer residue in them, so that you can be exposed that way, though I'm not sure how much. In any case, the hens and dogs will love it, though I'll have to buy eggs.

Thanks again!

 

[dawg53]

Thanks, I'll worm them first thing in the morning. I guess I'll feed them back their eggs the first couple of weeks, and then feed their eggs to the dogs during the 2nd round. I'd read somewhere that feeding the eggs back to the chickens will just keep the wormer residue in them, so that you can be exposed that way, though I'm not sure how much. In any case, the hens and dogs will love it, though I'll have to buy eggs.

Thanks again!

The wormer residue in the eggs will help build worm resistance to the wormer if you feed the eggs back to your chickens...dogs ok.